Apple-Samsung Patent Ruling Gets ITC Once-Over

The U.S. International Trade Commission will review a ruling that found that more than a dozen Samsung mobile devices infringed a handful of Apple patents.

The ITC said Wednesday that it will evaluate a decision issued last October by administrative law judge Thomas Pender which found that Samsung has violated one of Apple’s iPhone design patents as well as three software feature patents. The agency also asked Pender to take a second look at parts of two patents where he had found infringement.

The ITC’s review of Pender’s findings likely means that a final decision in the matter will be issued sometime after its original March 27 deadline. Good news for Samsung, which could see a ban on U.S. imports of some of its products if Pender’s ruling stands.

The move follows a December filing to the ITC by Google — which makes the Android OS that runs on the Samsung devices at issue here — encouraging the agency not to block the importation of Samsung’s products.

“Apple asserts patents that cover only small aspects of the feature-packed Android platform and that do not drive consumer demand,” Google wrote. “These interests do not justify an exclusion order.”

AllThingsD by Writer

AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources. Read more »